Abstract Excitatory synaptic transmission in many neurons is mediated by two coexpressed ionotropic glutamate receptor subtypes, AMPA and NMDA receptors, that differ kinetics, ion selectivity, voltage-sensitivity. receptors have fast kinetics are voltage-insensitive, while slower increased conductance at depolarized membrane potentials. Here, we report the voltage dependency of act synergistica...

Under standard conditions, cultured ventral spinal neurons cluster AMPA- but not NMDA-type glutamate receptors at excitatory synapses on their dendritic shafts in spite of abundant expression of the ubiquitous NMDA receptor subunit NR1. We demonstrate here that the NMDA receptor subunits NR2A and NR2B are not routinely expressed in cultured spinal neurons and that transfection with NR2A or NR2B...

Na(+)-activated K(+) (K(Na)) channels are expressed in neurons and are activated by Na(+) influx through voltage-dependent channels or ionotropic receptors, yet their function remains unclear. Here we show that K(Na) channels are associated with AMPA receptors and that their activation depresses synaptic responses. Synaptic activation of K(Na) channels by Na(+) transients via AMPA receptors sha...

meable to calcium and that controls synaptic plasticity. Activation of NMDA receptors leads to the appearance of functional AMPA receptors (“unsilencing”) in previously silent synapses, thereby potentiating synaptic transmission (Malenka and Nicoll, 1999; Malinow et al., Morgan Sheng1,2 and Sang Hyoung Lee2 Department of Neurobiology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Massachusetts General Hos...

AMPA receptors play a central role in basal excitatory synaptic transmission as well as synaptic maturation and plasticity. The transmembrane AMPA receptor regulatory protein (TARP) stargazin (gamma2) serves multiple roles in trafficking and stabilizing synaptic AMPA receptors and may be incorporated as an auxiliary subunit. We wanted to determine whether stargazin altered channel function of n...

During development of the central nervous system, precise synaptic connections between presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons are formed. While significant progress has been made in our understanding of AMPA receptor trafficking during synaptic plasticity, less is known about the molecules that recruit AMPA receptors to nascent synapses during synaptogenesis. Here we identify a type II transmembr...

Neuronal activity controls the strength of excitatory synapses by mechanisms that include changes in the postsynaptic responses mediated by AMPA receptors. These receptors account for most fast responses at excitatory synapses of the CNS, and their activity is regulated by various signaling pathways which control the electrophysiological properties of AMPA receptors and their interaction with n...

The AMPA-type glutamate receptors mediate the majority of the fast excitatory synaptic transmission and critically contribute to synaptic plasticity in the brain, hence the existence of numerous trafficking proteins dedicated to regulation of their synaptic delivery and turnover. Stargazin (also termed gamma2) is a member of a recently identified protein family termed transmembrane AMPA recepto...

Activity-dependent insertion of AMPA-type glutamate receptors is thought to underlie long-term potentiation (LTP) at Schaffer collateral fiber synapses on pyramidal cells in the hippocampal CA1 region. Although it is widely accepted that the AMPA receptors at these synapses contain GluR2 subunits, recent findings suggest that LTP in hippocampal slices obtained from 2 – 3 week old rodents is dep...

The PDZ domain-containing proteins, such as PSD-95 and GRIP, have been suggested to be involved in the targeting of glutamate receptors, a process that plays a critical role in the efficiency of synaptic transmission and plasticity. To address the molecular mechanisms underlying AMPA receptor synaptic localization, we have identified several GRIP-associated proteins (GRASPs) that bind to distin...